Winters, who finished third at the NIC-10 meet at No. 1 singles, finished 0-2 during play at Wheeling High School.

Second-seeded Alex Galoustian of New Trier gave Winters his first loss, 6-0, 6-1.

“He was a really good player,” said Winters, a junior. “I did my best against him, but couldn’t do too much.”

Winters felt he had a good shot to rebound in his next match against Cary-Grove’s Owen Russell. The first set was close at the start, but Russell managed to take it at 6-2. In the second set, Winters battled to a 4-4 tie, before Russell won 6-4.

“He was running down everything and made it tough,” Russell said.

Said Winters: “I had a chance to take it, but didn’t.”

Although, his state debut was brief, Winters said the trip was special.

“It means a lot,” he said. “Being at state, you have a different mentality. There’s a lot of competition here.”